Arthur sighed and swirled around the champagne in his glass, only sipping from it occasionally. On another occasion, he would have partaken of something stronger, but he felt he should stay sober, if only for Felix's sake. For the masquerade, he had dressed up as a pirate.

Felix's ball seemed to be going smoothly although the prince had still not made an appearance. Unsurprisingly, Felix, dressed in a rather extravagant pink gown, was rushing around hoping to see Prince Francis. After nearly two hours, he was beginning to freak out.

"Like, this is not cool. Where is he? I'm totally beginning to lose my cool!"

Toris placed his hand on Felix's shoulder consolingly. He was dressed up as a puppy with floppy ears, a tail and gloves that looked like paws. "Don't worry, I'm sure he just got delayed or something." He bit his lip nervously and summed up every ounce of courage he had. "Why don't you dance with me while you wait?"

"Look, Toris, I like, already have my first dance promised to Francis." Felix told him, and looked off into the distance with a dreamy face, not seeing Toris' disappointment. "He's sooo hot. Just imagine it: We'll dance a waltz and fall in love and then he'll marry me and take him to his castle where we'll live happily ever after. Totally sweet, am I right?"

Felix snapped out of his daydream and started panicking again when he saw no sign of Prince Francis. "It's totally not fair!" he wailed. "He's not coming!" Felix rushed inside the mansion, with a pout on his face.

Arthur and Toris looked at each other and followed Felix. They were used to Felix's tendencies to overreact, but he really did look like he needed some cheering up. When they found him, he was staring outside a window, his arms crossed and his bottom lip sticking out

Arthur didn't really know what to say but he awkwardly patted Felix's back. "Look, just calm down. I'm sure the prince has a good reason for being late." In response, Felix looked pointedly away from him.

"Maybe I just need to wish harder." Felix said as he looked up at the Evening star and crossed his fingers, bouncing up and down. "Come on, please, please, please, PLEASE. COME ON!"

"Wishing on a star isn't enough, Felix. You have to put in some hard work an consider what you really want." Arthur told him before giving Toris a "now's your chance" look.

"Felix…" Toris began nervously. "Have you considered that maybe you don't need a prince? I mean, the prince might not even be coming. Maybe there's someone else just under your nose who's hoping that they have a chance with you."

Felix turned toward Toris questioningly. "What are you talking about?"

Taking a deep breath, Toris looked Felix in the eye. "Felix, I-"

"LADIES AND GENTLEMAN." A voice was heard announcing. "HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, PRINCE FRANCIS BONNEFOY!" A figure appeared with chin length wavy blond hair and blue eyes.

"Toris, we can talk later. I've got a prince to catch!" Felix called as he ran up to meet Francis. The two bowed (actually, Felix curtsied) to each other and began waltzing.

Arthur glanced up at the Evening star as if wondering whether it had something to do with it. When he looked back he saw Toris watching Felix and Francis dancing. His expression could only be described as heartbroken.

A beeping noise came from the pocket of Arthur's coat and he took out his phone and went inside to check what it was. He checked his email and found a message from Hetalia Books. Yes they had finally read it! Eagerly, Arthur scanned the email. The more he read, however, the more felt his heart sink.

"Arthur Kirkland, we regret to inform you that your book does not fit the needs of our company at this time." Arthur continued reading but the information barely registered. All of that hard work for nothing. As he kept reading, they gave some vague reasons for why they had rejected the book, but Arthur knew why. They were goddamn wankers who were biased against books with homosexual characters. All his life, had dealt with similar bias due to having two dads and being gay himself, but now the weight of it all seemed unbearable.

Needing to get away, Arthur hurried up to Felix's room. He took off the red pirate coat and his hat and eyepatch. Now he simply wore a white silk shirt and beige pants with high black boots. He took his old journal out of the pocket of the coat and went to the balcony outside it where he could think.

He angrily swiped at a tear forming in his eye. He would not cry, dammit. "St-stupid publishers. Those gits don't know what they're doing. I was so close. People would have been lining up to buy my book." He looked up at the Evening star and clutched his journal to his chest like he had so many years ago.

"Please, please, please." he whispered.

Bringing his gaze back to earth, Arthur was startled when he saw a frog sitting on the rail of the balcony. He was sure that it hadn't been there moments ago.

"Just peachy." Arthur mumbled sarcastically. He he addressed his next commentsto the frog. "As if the universe wasn't mocking me enough. What, you want a kiss?"

"A kiss would be trés bon, oui?"

"…"

"WHAT IN THE BLOODY HELL?" Arthur yelled backing away into the room. The frog had just talked back to him, and in a French accent no less.

"Je suis désolé! I am sorry I frightened you! Wait, what are you with zat book? No, wait, AAAH!" The frog yelped as he dodged a book being swung towards him. He hopped up on top of a desk and held out his hand (or rather flipper) in a "stop" gesture.

"Let me eentroduce myself. I am none ozer zan Prince Francis Bonnefoy!" a book slammed down on the frog and he coughed out "….of France."

"Bullshit. I just saw him outside dancing with Felix. So you had better give a bloody good explanation of what's going on."

"Look, all I know eez zat one moment I am a dashing and charmingly 'andsome prince and zen POOF! I 'ave flippers, green skin, and am no longer beautiful."

"What, and I suppose you now need a kiss to change back?"

The frog leapt up (pun intended) in excitement. "Of course, why deedn't I zink of that? You 'ave to kiss me!"

"What no! That was sarcasm, you idiot!"

"Oh come on, cherie. All ze ladies love my keeses. Besides, eet will make me 'uman again. I can geeve you a reward in return. My family is trés wealthy. Or maybe zere is somezing else I can do?" Francis neglected to mention that he was broke.

Arthur thought it over. Maybe if he changed this so-called prince back, he could get him to leave an excellent review of his book. After all, publishers would get do anything to get the chance to publish a book recommended by a prince. It would sell like wild! But was it worth it to kiss something as gross as a frog?

Glancing back at his journal, Arthur hardened his resolve. "Fine. But just one kiss, and then I will scrub my mouth with soap."

"Now, now, no need to be so rude. Come on." Francis puckered his lips (or what would be lips. Arthur didn't know if frogs had lips.).

Ignoring his urge to gag, Arthur squeezed his eyes shut and kissed Francis. There was a bright flash of light and a bang like a gunshot and Arthur disappeared. Francis looked at himself, but he was still small and slimy (what he didn't know was that it was actually mucus. If he did, he would have been even more disgusted by his predicament).

Francis suddenly realized that he couldn't see the man who had just kissed him. He looked around and then looked down from the desk to see Arthur's clothes lying in a pile. As he watch, something squirmed inside it and something small and green emerged from the fabric.

"You still look as idiotic as before," it said in Arthur's voice. "But how the hell did you get up there? Hang on, how am I down here?"

Arthur caught sight of himself in the mirror and screamed.

"YOU WANKER, YOU TURNED ME INTO A FROG TOO!" Arthur hopped up next to Francis and tried to strangle him. As the two struggled, they ended up back near the balcony and Francis leapt away from Arthur only to fall into a giant cake set up on a dessert cart, frightening the poor soul who was about to cut a slice.

"Never mind zat! We need to get out of 'ere before zey try to get us!" Francis yelled at Arthur and the two bounded away from the party. Francis found some balloons and with great difficulty due to his flippers, untied them and grabbed Arthur. The balloons took off and the two floated away. Arthur glared at Francis.

"I am going to kill you."